In 1879 Haire was elected Webster County auditor and held that office until 1885. He also served as county clerk of courts and was a member of the Fort Dodge School board and its vice president for 10 years. He retired from active business life here in 1870, some years before being elected to county offices.
Haire and his wife were parents of 10 children, seven sons and three daughters. The sons were prominent in business affairs of the city for many years. They were M. J. Haire, Oleson Land Company; W. W. Haire, Sackett & Haire Drugs; Jack Haire, Fort Dodge Lumber Company; Dave Haire, who served as county clerk; Tom Haire, Haire Clothing Store; Edward and Fred who were associated with Sackett & Haire Drugs. The daughters were Anna, Josephine and Mrs. Margaret Haire Kinney.
Two grandsons of the pioneer businessman are Fort Dodge residents—George M. Haire and John Haire, sons of the late Mr. and Mrs. Jack Haire.
THE DR. EVANS HOME
The Dr. Evans home
530 S. Twelfth Street
The brick home located at 530 S. 12th St. was built in 1913 by Dr. Robert Evans, for many years a prominent physician and surgeon in Fort Dodge. The two-story house has three rooms on the first floor, three rooms on the second floor and an attic area with two rooms.
The house is situated in part of the Fair Oaks addition to the city that once was also the location of the Duncombe deer park and the attractive gypsum block residence of John F. Duncombe and his wife, Mary. Duncombe was a prominent early-day attorney and industrialist here.
Mrs. Duncombe sold the South Twelfth Street building lot in 1909 to Mercie T. Evans, wife of Dr. Evans. Four years later the Evans built the brick home which they occupied for many years.
The house has changed ownership a number of times and once was owned by Mr. and Mrs. John P. Barton. Mrs. Barton was a niece of Dr. and Mrs. Evans. Following the deaths of the Bartons the house was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Al Hayden who now live in Mesa, Ariz. After some remodeling of the house it was sold by Haydens in 1967 to the Don Slotten family. They, in turn, sold the property in 1972 to Mr. and Mrs. Norman Lee Pingel who presently reside there with their family.